1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel nozzle of a gas turbine combustor for dimethyl ether (DME, CH3OCH3) and a design method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fuel nozzle of a gas turbine combustor for DME and a design method thereof that can obtain optimal combustion of DME in the gas turbine combustor, thereby achieving cost reduction of power plants, enhancement in reliability of the power plants, and diversification of usable fuel.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known in the related art, dimethyl ether (DME) has recently been in the spotlight as a new clean fuel since it can be produced from various raw materials such as natural gas, coal, coal bed methane, etc., permits convenient transportation and storage like Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and has good exhaust characteristics.
Generally, DME has a lower heating value, a higher combustion rate and a lower ignition temperature than those of natural gas used as the primary fuel for gas turbines. Therefore, if DME is directly applied to existing combustors, the combustor is likely to experience damage due to liquefaction and combustion oscillation.
For example, when DME is applied to a dry low NOx gas turbine combustor, there are problems of flame back, combustion oscillation, combustion instability, etc. due to the high combustion velocity and the low ignition temperature.